we'll tell you what you need to know coming up. plus, wendy davis is fighting back after questions over the details of her personal story. is it a desperate attack by her challenger, or could it be a real problem for her? disinvited. the u.n. rescinds the invitation for iran to be part of the syrian peace talks. will this cause problems before the talks even start? and what happened iran's nuclear program? a former ambassador will fill us in. good afternoon, i'm chris jansing, and next hour, new jersey governor chris christie takes the oath of office for his second term, embroiled in scandal, and we've just learned new jersey lawmakers will announce this morning that they'll create another special committee to investigate the george washington bridge traffic jam and other alleged abuses of power. it wasn't supposed to be this way. after a huge 22-point victory, capturing women voters, hispanic 30% of democrats, the straight talking and widely popular governor expected nothing but a

victory lap today, then he was supposed to spend the year raising his profile as head of the republican governor's association and then presumably run for president in 2016, but a brand new poll shows his unfavorable ratings are skyrock skyrocketing. they jumped from 17% last year to 34% right now. not only is the bridge scandal and accusations of corruption involving money for hurricane sandy victims hurting his presidential prospects, it's hurting his image as a governor who's bipartisan. he'll mention working across party lines in his speech today. msnbc's craig melvin is in trenton. craig, what do we know about what he's expected to say? >> he's going to start here, the ceremony itself is going to start about 10:30 behind me at the war memorial. the governor is expected to start speaking some time around noon. that speech; as you indicated, going to hit on familiar themes when it comes to christie's speeches, he'll talk about bipartisanship, compromise, he's

going to mention sandy. he's also going to be talking about the benefits of small government. we can tell you based on some of the excerpts that we've seen, he's going to say in part, "we will fight to continue to change government so that we value our differences and honor the strength of our diversity. we cannot fall victim of the attitude of washington, d.c., the attitude that says i am always right and you are always wrong, and the attitude that puts everyone into a box they are not permitted to leave. the attitude put political wins ahead of policy agreements. the belief that compromise is a dirty word." so that's just a snippet of what we expect to hear today from governor christie. we can also tell you that the church service that wrapped up a short time ago at new hope baptist church ran between 45 minutes and an hour. it was a lively service, we're told. we're also told at one point the pastor of new hope, and you may remember new hope baptist

church, where whitney houston's funeral was held and where governor christie went right after sandy. the pastor there, joe carter, said everyone has to deal with dark times. god will show up in your midnight situation. he reportedly said that while looking at the governor during that worship service. also want to tell you quickly that 10:30 news conference, we're expecting to learn a little bit more about that super committee. they are taking the assembly committee and senate committee and they are going to combine the two committees somewhere between 12 and 13 members, primarily democrats. we're going to find out more about the scope of that committee's powers in just a bit. when we do, we'll come back and update you on it. >> craig melvin, thank you. we look forward to your reports from there. with more on chris christie, let me bring in dave waggle, jesse. dave, let me start with you and word of the super committee, you

wonder, could it be good news? at least they are not acting independently, which could mean twice the number of leaks or pieces of information or is this just another sign that this is getting more and more serious and could be more and more trouble for chris christie? >> it's the latter. add that to the investigations that are now under way, this has always been the problem for christie. he's facing a year as governor when the legislature is basically identically composed of 2011, 2012. his party did not gain any seats in 2013, despite his landslide, so democrats now have really no incentive to work with him, apart for the welfare of new jersey. every incentive they don't want him to be president to keep investigating him. there is actual anger about how the bridge closure happened, you have to explain to constituents why this happened, but in addition to that, their motivations are similar to the republicans of 1998, who had every reason in the world, they

thought, to keep investigating bill clinton. that was a lame duck president on his way out. christie is somebody who, as you saw on the pugh poll, a national figure with his wings clipped. >> let's talk about polls. unfavorables dropping. among adults aware of the issue, 58%, jackie, say he didn't know anything about the bridge and if you add the new allegations between the hoboken mayor, there was a connection between sandy aid and the development project, you have to wonder how does he keep the numbers from sliding. is there anything, for example, he can do or say in the speech today that could help? >> it's interesting, christie's watching one of his biggest assets turn into a negative. he was a tough talking, straight talking politician who kind of pushed people around, and until this he really didn't get a whole lot of flak for it, and now it's turning against him. he's going to emphasize bipartisanship and divisiveness

in washington in the speech. whether or not it's going to help him in the scandal, if it turns out what he's saying is true. but i will say, democrats really need to watch and not overplay their hand or christie is going to be able to turn this into a partisan battle, which would benefit him. >> let's talk about one aspect of that, the hoboken mayor, dawn zimmer, of course, from the christie camp perspective is playing politics. she was on cnn last night again standing by her story. >> this isn't something that, you know, you forget. the governor of the state of new jersey tells you in the parking lot, you remember. i was very upset, and i did a journal entry, you know, a few days later. >> and it was yesterday, and we ran the whole thing in this hour that the lieutenant governor denied the allegations. here's part of what she said. >> mayor zimmer's version of our conversation in may of 2013 is

not only false, but it's illogical and does not withstand scrutiny when all of the facts are examined. >> does this become a she said/she said that sort of is a wash, or is this more trouble for chris christie because it's another way that people keep talking about it? >> well, the investigations are hopefully going to snuff some of that out, but this wasn't the only new accusation of bullying that came over the weekend. carl lewis, the olympian runner, who was going to run for state senate, didn't actually concede running for state senate, reminded reporters for the "star ledger," that christie had called him and said, boy, if he runs for senate, a physical fitness project lewis was expected to run for the state wouldn't end up happening. anyone who's ever tangled with the governor, political reporters used to say were pretty impressive, anyone who

tangled and not gotten what they wanted was given more credibility. lewis said, boy, when i talked about this back then, no one believed me, but now you guys are calling me and listening to me. he's not the only person, as we've seen. i don't know when we're going to run dry on this well of people who tangled with christie, lost, and are bitter about it. >> on "the rundown," chuck was talking to haley barbour. take a listen. >> christie's got sense enough to walk and chew gum at the same time. he doesn't have to do just one thing. the preponderance of his time, regardless of this flak came up or not, would be dedicated to being governor of new jersey. that's his job. >> is that the best thing he can do right now? he can't control these investigations, he can't control the depositions that are going to be taken, but he should just try to do his job as much as he can?

>> yeah, i think governor barbour is right on that. i saw an interview with christie and i think you're going to see a more reserved christie going forward in order to weather some of these attacks. >> he said, in fact, he felt he got hit across the forehead with a 2x4, but also said, if it's a word, i'm readier now to run for president than i was in 2011. does that maybe suggest he's still thinking he can weather this storm? >> absolutely. i think he does think he can weather the storm, but again it's going to depend on the outcomes of the investigations and whether or not it bears out he's been telling the truth. >> jackie, dave, good to have both of you on. we're going to continue to follow this and be there for the inaugural today for the second term of chris christie right here on msnbc. checking the news feed this morning, here we go again. 84 million people in the path of

another round of winter weather, from the midwest to the northeast. high winds and heavy snow, as well as plunging temperatures, starting right now through tomorrow. some areas could see upwards of a foot of snow. how much will you get? nbc meteorologist bill karins will join us with the totals in our next half hour. students are returning to class this morning the morning after a gunman shot a student sitting in his car. that student is in critical, but stable condition and police are still searching for the gunman. they don't think he's still on campus and they say this is not appeared to be a random act. critics in japan taking aim caroline kennedy, the u.s. ambassador tweeted, "deeply concerned by inhumaneness on dry hunt dolphin killing. usg opposes drive hunt fisheries." a japanese spokesperson responded calling dolphin

fishing traditional in their country. the associated press now reporting david vitter will enter the race for louisiana governor in 2015. reportedly he made the announcement in an e-mail. we'll keep you posted as we get more developments on that. and there are new worries black widow suicide bombers will be targeting torch relay. up next, we'll break down the latest terror concerns. to help me become an olympian, she was pretty much okay with me turning her home into an ice rink. ♪ she'd just reach for the bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller, powerful sheet that acts like a big sheet. look, one select-a-size sheet of bounty is 50% more absorbent than a full size sheet of the leading ordinary brand. use less, with the small but powerful picker-upper, bounty select-a-size. yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome.

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nbc news has confirmed the names of three more black widow terror suspects. that makes now a total of four suspected suicide bombers on the loose, and it's feared one may have already slipped into sochi.

meantime, the pentagon confirms air and naval aspects, including two ships in the black sea, will be made available if needed during the winter games. richard engel is live in russia, and here in new york, terrorism analyst evan coleman. let me start with you, four black widow terror suspects that we know of. what can you tell us about them and what's the level of concern? >> well, i can tell you it's four women potential black widows and two men, so it is a total of six people that the russian security forces are looking for right now, six potentially walking bombs in this country. four of them women. they call them black widows because they are usually the wives of other militants killed by the russian security forces. one of those women, we released her name yesterday, this is the woman who russian officials fear may have already gotten into

sochi and could be in the sochi area. the other three women, according to the police, are suspected of plotting some sort of attack against the olympic torch relay as it makes its way to sochi over the next three days. much less is known about the two men, only they could try to carry out some sort of attack in southern russia, according to officials. >> couple questions, one is timing, the woman they think may be around sochi. she came in after the big bombing weeks ago, so a what does that say about the level of security and how tough is it going to be to track the six people down? >> there's holes all over the place, and look, it's no great surprise. very difficult project to try to secure an area of this size. i think ultimately what we're looking at is the same thing we saw before, there's a threat to these olympics, people targeting these olympics, and there's no guarantee that the russians are going to be able to stop these

folks from targeting people around the olympics or in the olympics. >> u.s. military commanders are making plans. admiral john kirby says this, the united states offers its full support, air and naval assets will be available if requested for all manner of contingencies in support of and consultation with the russian government. richard, we've heard complaining about russian cooperation, let's not kid ourselves, we can go back and look at something a lot of folks know about and follow the boston bombings. we know what the level of cooperation is. is there any situation you see between now and two weeks from now that, a, it's going to improve, or, b, if something did happen, that the u.s. assets would even be allowed to help? >> i don't see any scenario that russia would invite american warships to come and help in

providing security for the sochi olympics. perhaps if there was some absolute catastrophe that russia couldn't handle, perhaps in that situation they might ask for assistance, but even that might seem unlikely. you also have to look at russia's perspective. russia doesn't see the united states completely as its ally in all things world affairs, and doesn't want to cooperate fully. the particular general who's in charge of sochi is from the fsb, former kgb, and he is from the counterintelligence division. his background, this is not someone who's going to be necessarily welcoming in a lot of people from u.s. intelligence services and military personnel. >> if you want to wreak havoc, cause death and destruction, this is a rich target. 6,000 athletes from 85 different country participating in the winter games, obviously, you

have a worldwide television audience of 3 billion people. the first thing you think about is munich, those of us alive at the time were riveted by that horrific scene. so what's the goal here? they want to humiliate putin as much as they possibly can? >> yeah, they want to make a statement on the world stage, and unfortunately for us, they don't have to attack, say, the torch relay. they don't have to attack an olympic event. these folks, if they carry out an attempt in a russian city like volgograd, st. petersburg around the time of the olympics, that's going to make an international statement and get the attention of the media. that's all they need to achieve. unfortunately, there's been a lot of focus on sochi and the olympics because it's been targeted, but the reality is these folks want to make that statement, there's a lot of targets to choose from and they've been explicit about this, they are not just going after the olympics, they are going after a wide range of targets inside russia. we're going to bring the battle inside of russia. >> we heard reports potentially

they are looking at going after the torch relay, richard, are you seeing anything on the ground, extra precautions, or was the security along the route already pretty tight? >> security is very tight, particularly the closer you get to sochi. plus, to echo was evan was saying, there was an ongoing conflict in the country between the russian government, russian security forces, and militant groups in the north caucasus. those groups are targeted by the russian soldiers and police and the russian military is doing ongoing operation. there was a big operation just a few days ago that killed a number of militants. dagestan in particular, which is one of the republics in the north caucasus is particularly violate and they'd want to use this opportunity to show the world their cause, show the world that they are suffering from their perspective, that they are oppressed by the

russian security forces. but if they do carry out an attack, it actually could play into the russian's hands, because the russian government says that it is fighting terrorists, and if the militants from the north caucasus blow up the relay, train station, or some other target, it will make putin's case stronger that he is fighting legitimate terrorist targets and should do whatever he needs to do to clear them out. >> nbc's richard engel, evan coleman, thank you both. >> thank you. texas candidate for governor wendy davis is responding to accusations of inconsistencies in her compelling personal success story. has the rising star in the democratic party been tarnished? it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions--

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the weather channel's jim cantore is live in washington. i'm totally busting you in the break. you were doing push-ups to stay warm. how is it there and how much snow are you guys going to get? >> well, let's put it this way, i'm going to be doing a lot more push-ups, chris, because it's going to turn bitterly cold into tonight. temperatures that could easily drop 20 degrees from where they are right now. wind chills will be below zero. that's the second part of this. you can see the visibility coming down behind me, the capitol behind me. let me show you other cameras, because this is coming along just as we expected in terms of the forecast. this time at the washington monument, you can barely see it, all right, so we're down probably around two miles or less here inside the beltway, which is what we had forecast. let's go up to philadelphia. believe it or not, this is philadelphia. the visibilities are so far down here. they have a heavier band of snow there. that will come through the district later on this

afternoon. it will come through baltimore, as well. let's jump up to new york now as we look at 30 rock, down towards the ice skating rink. that's got to make for a nice day with the snow down and out there with a pair of skates on, but all of these areas will be heavily impacted for the evening rush hour, both on the ground and in the air. we've had over 2,000 cancellations today. most being in and out of northeastern hubs, so don't plan on going anywhere any time soon here. we've got the rail shutting down here between d.c. and baltimore, and the big question is, what are we going to do with the mass transit situations, the buses, there are huge number ofs of buses in the district that get people around and if you get one of those jackknifed, that blocks up everybody. snow expected this afternoon and a miserable rush hour for millions and millions of people across the i-95 from virginia, north carolina, northward into new england. back to you. >> those people trying to fly somewhere aren't getting anywhere. piece of advice, in addition to doing push-ups, you could go

into the warm truck. >> you know what, if i had one, chris, i would. we're out here in a plug-in station. >> that's brutal! jim cantore, thank you for braving the elements for us. >> any time, any time. if you read only one thing this morning, i'm going to make a confession, i had a long to do list yesterday and while not everything got done, one thing got done, i watched "downton abbey," time magazine has a report on the science behind your addiction to your favorite tv shows. it's on our facebook page. let us know what you think and your tv addiction. head to facebook/jan singcon. verizon innovators are creating air and singcon.tworks that help use water wisely, so american farms can keep growing for generations to come.

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overcame adversity to graduate from harvard law. a centerpiece of her campaign against texas attorney general greg abbott. well, over the weekend, the dallas morning news noted while the basic story is true, some of the details are not. for example, davis had been 21, not 19, not a teen mother, when she divorced and was living in a trailer park alone with her daughter. yesterday, davis tweeted, "two days ago abbott and his campaign sunk to a new low, making personal attacks on my family, my education, and my character. attacks won't work, mine is the story of millions of texas women who know the strength it takes when you're young, alone, and a mother." an abbott spokesman released a statement that read in part, "senator wendy davis systemically, intentionally, and repeatedly deceived texans for years about her background, yet expected voters to indulge her fantasy narrative."

robert trey nam is an msnbc contributor and former bush/cheney adviser. good morning, gentlemen. here's what wendy davis explained, "my language should be tighter. i'm learning about using broader, looser language. i need to be more focused on the detail." robert, is this much to do about nothing, or could this be a real problem for wendy davis? >> well, i think it is a much to do about nothing and can be a problem for senator davis. here's why, it's about being truthful. i don't understand why you have to embellish on something like this. look, the fact of the matter, she was a single mother, regardless of when she was a single mother and the fact of the matter is she graduated from harvard law school. that's admirable, something to be proud of. to embellish whether or not you live in a trailer park, you divorced, whatever the case may be, i don't understand. >> could it be she misremembered and when she went back and looked at the facts -- sometimes

i can't remember how old i am right now. >> to be honest, i worked on many, many campaigns, that's why you do research on yourself and the reason why you read everything before it goes out, because these are the little things that can get you into big trouble, and the reason why, is because the constituents will take a look, wait a minute, if you really can't tell the truth about the small stuff, how am i going to believe you on the big stuff? >> the part of the republican argument is that she did not just talk about this, but she also touted this personal story in ad campaigns. here's one with her daughter. >> single mother with a sixth grade education, she married young, and by 19 was divorced and raising me as a single mother. you know how they say everything's bigger in texas? well, that certainly wasn't the case for the trailer we lived in. >> jason, part of her campaign strategy is to woo women voters with this story of struggle, as we said, something relatable. she grabbed national attention with her 11-hour filibuster back

in june. she puts herself forward as a fighter for women. does this hurt her credibility? >> no, not at all. i think these were mistakes of memory, not of intent, in fact, there were more inaccuracies in the article than her own stated narrative. the reason conservatives are making a lot of this, and i congratulate my counterpart for saying this is much to do about nothing, but in texas, this is the biggest thing anyone is talking about because wendy davis does have a compelling narrative and they need to knock it down. she is a legitimate threat to greg abbott and that is why they are attacking her, but wendy davis doesn't need her ex-husband, who was quoted in the article, by the way, or any other republican, the basic facts are this, she rose from virtually nothing. she was the first in her family to graduate from high school, for crying out loud. she was a teenaged mother in a trailer park. she rose out of that, got into harvard and now state senate. the article changes none of that. >> one of the other complaints

on the republican side is that on her website she does not mention that her ex-husband helped to put her through school. >> oh, boo-hoo. i think we can all assume when she was married and going to law school that her husband helped. in fact, if she was working at the time, so to say her husband put her through law school when they both took out loans for this is really demeaning to women. i think there are a lot of women out there who, you know, have put their husbands through medical school and what not, but everyone works together to do this and he complained in the article about paying her law school payments when she had been a working lawyer for ten years after law school and contributing to that, i think, is really awful. god forbid any of us have our life story subject to our exs having veto power. >> there are, obviously, polls on the race and it's a very tightly watched race. she did get so much publicity with the filibuster and also

raised $12 million but overall trails greg abbott, who's raised about $27 million. is that how we're going to track how this is affecting her when we look at future fundraising numbers, robert? >> well, i don't think fundraising numbers alone can determine whether or not she's going to win or not. i think we have to take a look at the personal opinion polls and the unfavorability rating there. look, the fact of the matter is, there are a lot of texans scratching their heads. i don't live in the state but have friends in texas that say she has a compelling story, there's something there, however, texas is still an overwhelmingly conservative state so the question becomes whether or not abbott can pull through and according to the numbers, it looks like he will pull this through. texas is still a republican state. let's just be honest about it. >> robert, jason. not the last time we'll be talking about wendy davis, i'm sure. thank you, both. heavy snow and frigid temperatures are taking aim once again at the midatlantic and the

northeast. schools were announcing closings and dismissals from virginia to new jersey. bill karins is here now with just how much snow to expect. i'm told it's already looking pretty bad out there. >> little slippery, cold in a lot of places, even just a little coating of snow out there. that's the case, not a lot of rain or mix with this one. it's pretty much an all snow, fluffy snow. big number, 84 million people affected by this storm as it moves through the midatlantic and northeast. the worst, blizzard warnings on cape cod. the snow has filled in, the white shows you the snow. 21 degrees in new york city, that's why it's sticking on all the roads and sidewalks, 25 in philly. more wet, slushy stuff in d.c., temperature at 34. bands have set up north and west of baltimore and d.c., they are trying to move over the downtown area, so it looks like your time is running out for roads not being significantly impacted. if you have to do last-minute errands, do so in a hurry. six to ten inches now to about midnight, d.c., baltimore,

philadelphia, new york city that snow will be ending around 2:00 a.m. out on boston, not until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. doesn't move far inland, the storm is off the coast, so that's good. the big thing people will be complaining about really isn't the snow, it's the wind chill up to minus 20 tomorrow morning when you're trying to snow blow or shovel that people won't like and you may have to get kids to school and to work after the storm. i think philadelphia, as far as the big city, has the best chance of a foot of snow. new york and boston, somewhere around eight inches, baltimore around eight. d.c., right around six. chris, a taste of what's to come, do you like snow or the cold, what's worst? >> the cold. >> cold, definitely. >> i don't like snow. it's pretty. >> this is not pretty. chicago's at minus 19 with six inches of snow last night. >> that's wrong. that's just long. >> they are tougher than we are. >> bill karins. green bay, minus 23, no thanks.

let's check the news feed again this morning. today investigators will be trying to figure out what caused an explosion at an animal feed plant in omaha, nebraska. two killed, ten others hurt. osha fined the plant's owner after a worker fell into a mixing tank in 2002 and after another inspection in 2012. police say the company is cooperating with their investigation. next hour, a 70-year-old murder case will return to a south carolina courtroom. george finney jr. was 14 years old when he was executed in 1944 for the murders of two girls ages 11 and 7. there was no physical evidence and investigators say he confessed to the crime, although he denied confessing during the trial. now a local law firm is trying to clear his name, saying he was framed. they'll go before a judge who will decide whether the guilty verdict will stand. in about an hour and a half, the sex abuse files on 30 chicago priests will go public. attorneys for the victims say

the 6,000 pages will show how the archdiocese concealed the abuse for decades. the archdiocese handed over the documents as part of a settlement with the victims. just announced this morning, president obama will pay pope francis a visit in march. his last trip to the vatican was back in 2009 to pope benedict. the white house says the two men will discuss fighting poverty and tackling inequality. if you've been to a staples lately, maybe you've seen they've got new postal service outlets, maybe convenient for some people, but union workers aren't happy about it. cnbc's kayla touchy is here. the union fears this is going to hurt them and kill some jobs that pay pretty well. >> that's right, chris. since november the postal service has been testing these mail centers in staples stores around the country, but they are being staffed by staples, not by the postal service. the average unionized postal worker earns about $25, versus

staples employees, which earn just more than the minimum wage. being able to sell stamps and shipping with no overhead costs, that's an effort to shore up business and plug the $5 billion loss it saw last year. staples, mean while, has 1,500 stores nationwide, but the unions worry the program could kill the brick and mortar offices. the program isn't a precursor to privatizing the system, just an experiment in customer service. we'll see how it develops, though. now on the hills of what's become commonplace, prenups, we're hearing about love birds, more and more of them buying wedding insurance. >> chris, weddings aren't cheap, the average one these days cost $26,000. couples are saying that's a huge investment, what's a few hundred dollars to protect that? it does cover cold feet, but some policies kick in if a vendor doesn't show up, vendor goes bankrupt, or inclement

weather. less than half of 1% of the 2 million-plus weddings in the country have the coverage, but big insurers say the number of couples getting this type of coverage is growing and it's good for them because they can get more business to cover their valuables, cars, or houses down the road. critics say it's unnecessary, but try telling that to couples whose nuptials got nixed by hurricane sandy, a government shutdown, there's a lot of things that could happen. >> i'm just making sure on behalf of your fiance you're not saying if it rains on your wedding day you're going to invoke your insurance clause. >> no, but we will probably have to put a tent up. maybe the insurance will cover that. >> kayla, thanks. in this age of data breaches, stolen passwords came up with a list of the absolute worst passwords of 2013. for the first time, 1, 2, 3, 4,

5, 6 takes the top spot. the word password had been number one since they started compiling the list, it's now number two. here's number three, 12345678. qwerty is fourth. i love you number nine, photoshop at 15, and princess is 22. if you want to check out the full list, it's at jansing.msnbc.com. ouse? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪ what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies.

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as fast on average. talks between the syrian government and the opposition get under way tomorrow, but not without drama. u.s. secretary general ben ki-moon took because his offer after pressure from the u.s. and threat from the syrian opposition to skip it altogether. sergey lavrov called the muove mistake. let me bring in former ambassador mark ginsburg, ambassador, good morning. >> good morning. >> what do you make of the back and forth of ban ki-moon? >> guess who's not coming to dinner, it's not iran. this is clearly an indication of how the u.n. secretary general stepped, shall we say, over the cliff with respect to this agreement that he had reached with the iranian foreign minister without adequately consulting with secretary of state kerry or the syrian opposition. look, christine, the real challenge is ultimately can this

conference reduce the hum humanitarian suffering inside syria? you can imagine the difficulties reaching any agreement. >> obviously, the goal of these talks, you want to establish a transitional government that both the opposition and government can agree to, but it begs, for example, on the state of the country. i'm going to quote him here, i will not hesitate for a second run for election. in short, we can say the chances for my candidacy are significant. what likely is going to come out of these talks? >> i'm afraid that with assad's position and the requirement by the syrian opposition that any talks have to lead to a transitional government, whereby mr. assad will agree eventually to step aside is a nonstarter. look, this is a classic example of diplomats and people who are not involved on the fighting on

the ground trying to reach an agreement when the circumstances in syria itself will not permit this type of agreement to be reached in geneva. look, i give secretary enormous credit because he's worked hard to get this conference together and get the russians onboard. ultimately, iran is mr. assad's major benefactor. if they are not at the conference, then it's hard for anyone to tell how they are going to reach any agreement. the most they can do is probably result in obtaining some humanitarian agreements that will provide greater relief to the refugees and those who are suffering in the cities that are under attack. >> and that would be something for sure. >> absolutely. >> let me turn to iran, if i can. short-term deal on its nuclear program started yesterday, limiting uranium enrichment, granting full access to inspectors, eluded stockpiles halted production on the separate plutonium plant. in exchange, sanctions were

lifted, including oil exports, auto and airline parts, gold, other metals. rate this where we are now, ambassador, how important is this step? >> well, they reached an important step. there was reciprocity, which is what the iranians and the americans and the p5 countries agreed to, the european countries that are part of the negotiation table, but now the really hard negotiating begins, because this is an interim agreement. there's supposed to be significant steps towards eliminating much of iran's uranium enrichment capacity with a goal of reaching this agreement in six months from now. so, look, we're off to a very good start, despite congressional objections, despite israeli objections. i think we have to see, and this is verifiable, how much each of these steps the iranians are going to reach on a schedule that is consistent with the court. look, we can hope that this works out. we can do everything we can to make sure that it works out, but

ultimately, the ball is really in tehran's court to honor this commitment under this negotiation. >> ambassador mark ginsburg, always good talking to you, thanks. >> thanks, christine. today's tweet of today comes from michelle obama's twitter handle, watch air flotus dunk on king james. take a look. >> you can take it from me, help make you a better athlete. [ sneezes ]

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a little bit like the father he didn't have. and he's very loving to him. and i really appreciate that. >> speaking of the clintons, hillary is headed to florida, stoking the speculation for a possible presidential run. the former secretary of state will speak at the university of miami on february 26th. sarah palin using facebook to take a jab at president obama over race on martin luther king day. she wrote, "mr. president, in honor of martin luther king jr. and all who commit to ending racial divides, no more playing the race card." it's not clear if she thought she was talking about a specific incident. but the first family honored martin luther king jr. yesterday by helping out in a soup kitchen. they prepared burritos with volunteers at the d.c. central kitchen, which celebrated its 25th anniversary yesterday. and politico reports president obama's 2012 campaign manager, jim messina, is signing

on to help charlie crisp return to the governor's mansion. the republican, turned independent, turned democrat, would face current governor rick scott if he wins the nomination. that wraps this hour of "jansing and co.," i'll stick around through chris christie's inauguration coming up next here on msnbc. [ male announcer ] we all deserve a good night's sleep. thankfully, there's zzzquil. it's not for colds, it's not for pain, it's just for sleep. ♪ because sleep is a beautiful thing™. ♪ zzzquil. the non-habit forming sleep aid from the makers of nyquil®. zzzquil. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that parker. well, did you know auctioneers make bad grocery store clerks? that'll be $23.50. now .75, 23.75, hold 'em.

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i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. developing news and live pictures from trenton, new jersey. governor chris christie in what is looking like the fight of his political life. it was to be the celebration of the start of his second term just about one hour from now. good morning, i'm chris jansing. not too long ago christie's inauguration was being viewed as a launching pad for a presidential run. instead, there are troubles hanging over his office and even mother nature is spoiling things. a nighttime party on ellis island, a symbol of america's possibilities has been cancelled because of the expected snowstorm, but so far looking at excerpts of his speech that have

been released, christie will not be talking about bridgegate or the controversy over allegations of giving hurricane aid to the city of hoboken was tied to support for a development project. instead, he'll speak to things that have proven successful to him in the past, the number one, christie as the alternative to washington, "we cannot fall victim to the attitude of washington, d.c., the attitude that says i am always right and you are always wrong." theme two, christie as the solo act, not afraid to go it alone. here's that quote, "the people of this state know that the only way forward is if we are all willing to take on what is politically unpopular." today's inauguration coming one day after christie's lieutenant governor denied accusations she tried to hold sandy relief hostage from the city of hoboken, but the democratic mayor of that city stuck by her story last night in a new interview. >> when you look at the documents, you look at the letters thate